Education: University of Florida: BA Design in Architecture, MA Architecture in Design

Qualifications for position:

n Small business owner: CRG Architects Planners Inc. St. Augustine since 1991

n Member of the American Institute of Architects

n Member of the National & Florida Trust for Historic Preservation

n Past President of the St. Augustine Rotary Club

n Past Chairman of City of St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board

n Past Chairman of City of St. Augustine HARB (Historic Architectural Review Board)

n Past Chairman of City of St. Augustine Code Enforcement Board

n Past Chairman of City of St. Augustine Entry Corridor Board

n Member of St. Johns County SHIP Program Board (State Housing Initiative Program)

n Member of the Betty Griffin House Board (St. Augustine Women’s Shelter)

n Member of The St. Augustine Art Association Board

How do you view the progress of the 450th anniversary’s planning and financing?

I think the current efforts of the City are going well, they have a number of things in the planning stage like, the Spanish food and wine festivals, the Picasso exhibit, the Kinsey collection, The New World in the eyes of the explorers exhibition, Tapestry- American Cultural Threads of First America exhibition, the civil rights commemorative marches and programs. What is missing is the creation of a 501c3 non-profit entity to raise money for these events, and others, that we as a city would like to plan. We need to get business people to create this effort so that we can attract major corporate sponsors for the events. This should have been done long ago. Now it is essential to get it in place. The other piece that needs to be in place is the logistics of planning for the number of people that will come for the various events. There is a carrying capacity for our small city, we need to think about how to keep the traffic down, perhaps by planning for satellite parking with tram or bus service, the existing parking structure may not have the capacity. We need to energize everyone over what an exceptional opportunity this is to showcase our wonderful city, also an opportunity to help get our economy healthier while maintaining and improving the quality of life for its residents.

What can the City Commission do to prevent historical authenticity from taking a back seat to tourism demands? I believe the objectives the city has set out are:

1) To create destination awareness and to tell our story to the world, our authentic, varied story, of how St. Augustine played the important role in the cultural and historical development of America.

2)To create economic development through new and returning tourism.

These are two very important goals that I believe in.

We have many people in this city whom we can call on to be part of the finalizing of the programs and events to verify that we are in fact giving a true and accurate picture of our history. I know these people will give of their time because of their love of our city, we just need to involve them.

City infrastructure needs a lot more investment at a time the tax base is growing smaller. Where’s the money going to come from?

We know that these are challenging time, financially, but we have such a unique and wonderful community. I believe the deflation we have seen in housing values will be rising again soon. I have talked with a number of real estate agents and they have said sales of existing houses have picked up and at higher prices than one would expect. The city building department in the last two weeks has had a dozen or so permits for new construction. This is a good sign and will translate into more taxes. We will need to get creative with other ideas, we have some city property now under performing both economically and socially, we need to work towards getting a better return in these areas. We get a great number of events in the city that require police time, clean-up time, etc. We may want to look into an additional revenue stream from these events to cover more of the costs so the money saved could go towards infrastructure. I think brainstorming is in order. We have many bright people living in our community, that can give us creative input towards new revenue streams.